Coffin Nail – The Hanged Man (2023) / 77%

Coughing up blood until my coffin is buried

This solo project of former Florida man Vok goes hard. It’s an amalgamation of different styles culminating in a take no prisoners assault for the body and the mind. Coffin Nail reminds me of the late Trap Them in how they’re able to mix hardcore/grindcore with metal genres like death metal without losing anything in the process.

Coffin Nail is like this really spicy cajun rub for chicken combining super chonky grind, death metal, hardcore punk but also some sludge, maybe extreme thrash/crossover, industrial vibes and hyper fast black metal (in spirit) as well. It’s unrelenting material with a dark, murderous era alternating between crushingly heavy slower stuff like the intro or “These Are Dead, They Feel Not” or just viciously fast like “Strangling Gallows”. There’s also a few nice surprises like the piano interlude of “Due Note in nero” or the saxophone solo of “Brood Parasites”. It’s full of catchy riffs (“Hammers and Chains” has an infectious one) and simple yet highly effective songwriting. The vocals are tenebrous snarling harsh vocals, quite fitting and well executed. The production is warm, natural and lets the violence shine. It’s sharp and fiery as a lightning bolt, I feel that the combination between aggression and thoughtful (enough) musicianship. Worth checking before going to the gallows.

Bandcamp

Mindforce - Excalibur (2018) / 90%

Crossover for KINGS like you

I don’t review crossover often (or at all even) because I feel there’s not a lot to say about the genre. While it’s somewhat the case with Mindforce as well, this album has been really hitting the spot since I discovered it recently. I was automatically intrigued because of the artwork and the title and even though I wasn’t expecting crossover mixed with Obsequiae and medieval folk music but it distinguished them from the usual fare we get in the scene.

As expected of a twenty-one minutes record, this is quite ruthless, unhinged and hella fast. The title track, the longest number here, is also possibly the slowest and hard hittin’, recalling Slayer’s Seasons in the Abyss to a certain extent. When the riffs get slower is when I lose my shit, they know how to be a crowd pleaser. What I like about crossover is that it relies entirely on how good and dangerous your riffs are and how good and aggressive your singer is. Well, New York’s Mindforce definitely delivers on all fronts. Short one to two minutes tracks is what you’re getting here, it flows nicely and crushes you like a thick lady would crush a watermelon between her thighs while saying “you’re next”.

There’s subtle details that elevates the band as well such as those short, sorrowful leads on “Fades Away” but overall, it’s pretty meat and potatoes thrash/crossover/hardcore with hardcore vocals and immense riffs and breakdowns. If you like Power Trip or Drain and don’t know those guys yet, get on board. Just like their music, I’ll keep this short and let you enjoy their idiotic metal made for idiots like us. To be played loud. All day.

Falsehood - Falsehood (2017) / 82%

Nah dudes, I agree

Falsehood from Edmonton features two members from death/black veterans Begrime Exemious but explores a different style of extreme metal. Crust is basically punks playing metal (or trying to) but the lines between punk and metal is getting quite blurry. It’s possible that metalheads can play punk as well! Anyhow the quartet mixes several influences into one potent patty of aggressive and uncompromising music.

Their approach relies heavily on heavy riffs and the repetitiveness of said hard hittin’ guitars. It’s cold, dangerous and it doesn’t mess around with the puck at all. They would have broken that fucking QAnon Shaman in pieces if they had the chance. It’s thundering politically inclined metallic punk taking no fucking prisoners. A mixing pot of death metal, sludgey doom, crust and hardcore punk, Falsehood is able to digest those influences and shit us something worthwhile and captivating. The dual guitars attack of Franky and Derek are fantastic and doesn’t show off at all, they’re there for the power of the riffs and they serve the songs. The guitar tone is disgusting (in the best way possible) and while there’s distortion, it’s never sloppy and badly written. Those dudes are solid musicians and the combination of the two guitarists with a very effective rhythm section created an aural devastation. A good example of how everything is so expertly combined is the eight minutes closer “Deceiver”, one of their slower but still super urgent compositions. The drums and bass are also very very good and it's something I focused on more and more after a few spins of the album. The backend of the album is rich and the tight and focused production definitely helps.

Protect the rich, serve the state

Mindless pigs fill us with hate

The vocals of Franky are pissed off deep growls, it's harsh and full of venom. What I like is that it's not a constant barrage of vocals, it's present like any other instruments and it plays its role within the band's music. Tracks like "Descent Into Madness" features vox only midway through the four-ish minutes track but when they start, damn. That track almost has a grindcore feel to it as it ends. They're good at showcasing their riffs and they let them breathe a while too. There's a few cleaner moments ("Waste" or "Militant Swine") and they bring forward some sort of depressive post metal stylistic exploration to the fold. It's interesting and doesn't feel out of place.

The only modern thing about them is their intent to combine old school styles together but ultimately, this combination creates something that could have been released ten, twenty or even thirty years ago. Like their left leaning themes, It’s pretty timeless for punk music. Throw Asphyx, Bolt Thrower and Amebix in a garbage bin and let the raccoons do their job, you’ll end up with something close to Falsehood.

Bandcamp

Allfather - And All Will Be Desolation (2018) / 81%

My father is proud that I review metal

I was sold right away when I first heard of this British quintet. Their look, their political stance (anti nazism, antifascism etc) and their blistering sound were good selling points. The main aspect that really made me go bonkers is that fact that they’re basically what happened when you really slow down Nails. “Suum Cuique” from Abandon All Life made me cum buckets and I was salivating at a whole album of that stuff.

Allfather is indeed tough guy slowed down beatdown but they’re guys who want to beat down white supremacists and they support trans equality. The kind of tough guys I want to actually support, you know. Not thinly veiled right wing metalloids. Still, their lyrics are full of dark images and putrid realities. The Brits mix a lot of things in their sound, from American sludge to mid-era Entombed (think Morning Star) to modern doomy/crust. You know the genre that a lot of bands play nowadays, a scene where the hardcore and the metal divisions are really blurred. It’s not a bad approach at all.

Their songs are heavy dirges, sometimes slow, sometimes mid-paced but almost condensed and compact. The opener “Black Triangle” starts with a quasi ethnic guitar introduction before delivering the good and the eleven minute closer “Lampedusa” offers a Crowbar-ish vocal performance armed with an epic song structure full of snappy heavy riffs and an a prehistoric elephantine drumming. The riffs are varying in quality, sometimes it’s fucking incredible like on those previously mentioned opener and closer but the middle of the album is a tad weaker. That’s the q-tip method and it’s often used in music. I can’t blame them. All in all, it’s a pretty solid essay by those cool Englishmen and alongside Dawn Ray’d, they represent left wing metal in the UK. Full support.

Bandcamp

The Body/Full of Hell - One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (2016) / 87%

"THAT'S NOT EVEN MUSIC, MAN!"

Two of today’s most belligerent forces of the underground got together to create this uneasy record. The young quartet from Maryland, Full of Hell, aren't afraid of experimenting and going all in when noise is concerned (see their collaboration with Merzbow) and Lee and Chip from The Body, two veterans of the "we'll do whatever the fuck we want" music academy, gave them the chance to go all in.

Throughout the ten songs, we're served abrasive and explosive music with a wide array of influences. Despite the numerous sounds of "One Day...", it's a coherent record with an overarching theme; nihilism... or a parody of nihilism. The Body are not to be taken too seriously most of the time and from what I've heard, their lyrical approach is based on some very dark humor.

The dirges found here are not letting go of your neck and heart for a bit more than forty minutes. The screeching vocals of Chip King (best name) and the deeper approach of Dylan Walker are perfect voices if you want to invoke total despair. The track "World Of Hope And No Pain" is a short summary of the vocal duality and it hits hard. The misery and pain found on those songs is personal but also universal, it speaks of suicide, depression but in a way devoid of emotional discharge and cheesiness. It's often more self-loathing than pure nihilism, in fact.

One of the highlights for me are the drums. At times, both a drum machine and a real drum are playing at the same time (such as on "Bottled Urn") and it creates an interesting dichotomy of styles and aggression. Sometimes it feels like The Body are using the technical skills of Full of Hell to provide an expansive yet super tight musicianship for their relatively simple but insane compositions. If it wasn't mad enough, the inclusion of short samples of neurotic TV extracts adds another dimension to the whole thing. The last track "Abel" ends with an extended one and it's just creepy. Its brother song "Cain" almost sounds like if Radiohead was actually dangerous instead of catering to boring college kids.

The ability of creating such a wall of sound with so many elements comes from their skill in using a multipurpose blender. From industrial sludge metal, slow powerviolence, striking grindcore to brooding ambient, harsh noise and even some martial black metal, the collaboration just unleashes its venom track after track. Sure, it's not quite accessible and some people would say it's not really "musical" but it's an overwhelmingly great album and it succeeds at all its goals. It's making you feel like shit but at the same time, you enjoy it.

Darkthrone – Arctic Thunder (2016) / 95%

Ted and Gylve are going camping again

Ever since their creation already three decades ago, Darkthrone has been mastering the metal arts. From death metal to icy black metal and hardcore punk fueled heavy/thrash, Ted and Gylve always did what they wanted and it’s never been anywhere near close to mediocrity. While we can go back to their classic trilogy for our black metal needs, I’ve been loving their recent material a lot and I often listen to their underrated and somewhat overlooked mid-era period (Hate Them in particular). The point of this introduction is to say that their whole discography is fucking immaculate and that’s a testament to both endurance and passion.

After my immediate love affairs with Circle the Wagons and The Underground Resistance, I was really expecting Arctic Thunder to be incredible. Unfortunately, I was a bit skeptical at first, it just wasn’t as good as I wanted to be. It seemed like a collection of good riffs without a cohesive feel or actual songs. I kept trying though as I knew the magic was there somewhere. The album was on constant rotation in December and January and turns out my understanding of it was waiting for me by the campfire. It was looking at the bright stars and the crisp flames wondering what I wasn’t grasping. With a judgmental look on its immaterial face, the record pierced my soul and I finally understood it. 

The main quality of Arctic Thunder is that it’s metal down to its core. It’s all about the riffs and it doesn’t hide anything under a false sense of gimmicks, an overcooked production or flashy but sterile musicianship. The album is like a strong imperial India pale ale, it contains a looooot of hops and it fills you up to the brink. The amount of riffs it has is almost criminal. I do think that some songs could had been longer but the tightness and the contained attitude is what makes this record so great. It’s epic by the strength of its riffs alone. The power of Nocturno’s guitar is enough to elevate the entire thing to another level. Perfect metal guitar tone.

Darkthrone doesn’t care about fluff or unnecessary elements, it’s riff after riff, thunderous drum beat after drum beat and bone shaking harsh vocals singing frosty anthems till you’re dead. 

BOREAL FIENNNNNDS

To talk about the sound of this record, we need to talk about their evolution since their watershed album The Cult Is Alive. They’ve been shedding their black metal skin since more than a decade while incorporating traditional metal elements (especially on their 2010 and 2013 records), punk, crust, D-beat or thrash metal. For this 2016 opus, it’s like if they decided to go back in time yet again but to an alternate dimension. One where black metal is still an essential part of their sound but where they wouldn’t have to leave their modern (read “ancient”) influences aside.

They took the sound developed on their previous five full lengths, mixed things up, pushed the black metal aura to the front and just went for the jugular. The album, rich with mid-paced riffs is apt at mixing thrashy black with some old school proto doom/death (Fenriz mentioned Dream Death himself and Satan knows he knows his shit) and it’s a lethal combination. Arctic Thunder brought back Darkthrone’s black metal from the dead but when you mess with necromancy, the corpse of your ancient friend can come back... changed. In this case, it came back as evil as before, hungry, angry and with a curious interest for hiking and camping.  

Nocturno handles almost all of the vocals on this record and it adds to the darker and murkier atmosphere they were going for. While I liked Fenriz’s silly but insanely great clean vox (listen to TUR’s “Valkyrie”), it wouldn’t had been a great fit here and like the old Norwegian wizards they are, they were wise enough not to include them here. Ted’s vocals are awesome (that’s not news for y’all, I hope) and he shines on the opener “Tundra Leech”. It made me want to sing the title while walking in the snowy roads of my city. 

TUNDRA LEEEEECH!

The quasi lo-fi production of Darkthrone has reached its peak here, I absolutely love the tone of the guitars and the drumming is both natural and loud without being overdone. The songwriting while highly condensed is all over the place and it’s due to the riffs variation. They can channel Iron Maiden (check out the intense title track), their buddies of Aura Noir, Celtic Frost or even Sabbath without breaking a sweat. There’s no much variation except for some slower tempos but it’s not needed. Darkthrone doesn’t do things for you, anyway. 

All in all, Darkthrone is still proving that they’re one of the best metal bands of all time by looking at the genre’s extensive repertory and making it their own. Making relevancy an unknown concept, the Norwegian duo aims for excellence and memorability and they succeed at both. Arctic Thunder is timeless, precious and essential metal

Existe – Esprit sensible, monde fragile (2016) / 85%

Post-raw existential crisis


This band started by Cyril Tousignant is another vivid example of how good the Québec black metal is and how diversified it is nowadays. Now a quartet, Existe unleashed their debut album in late July and it's a strong hybrid of post, black, punk and depression.

I remember being conflicted about their 2013 EP Et de longs passages douloureux pour une harmonie recherchée. It was an underproduced effort with a lack of direction and compared to this new oeuvre, the post rock/ambient side was more important. Esprit sensible, monde fragile (Sensitive spirit, Fragile World) see the band move towards a more metal direction, now more influenced by Lifelover than the lighter side of Alcest. Nevertheless, Existe still plays a fairly diverse style full of nuances and hooks.

The album starts with a non metal track with acoustic guitars but the screams of Tousignant are downright bone chilling and are certainly a good example of the type of singing we find in depressive black metal. After this somewhat long overture, the record moves in many directions but it's always done in a cohesive way. From the punk approach of the oddly named "/!\" to the aggressive yet atmospheric black metal of "Les fleurs fanées" or "Surpopulation humaine" (and its superb shoegaze ending), it does everything well. It's hard to say what is their stylistic core, it's much more raw than most post-black, much more emotionnal charged than most traditional black metal evolving in the obscurity. The vocals, mixing harsh tones, soft spoken words and some chanting (listen to "Anxieuse"), are all in French and they're singing evocative yet sad lyrics.

Mes yeux sont grand ouvert mais mon cerveau est flou

There's a certain richness in Existe's instrumentation, it's not only focused on the guitars, the bass is thundering, overly present and really damn enjoyable. That's something uncommon for black metal. It's probably the hardcore punk influences giving a larger focus to the rythmn section as it's more often the case in punk. Furtermore, the integration of unorthodox metal instruments such as the clarinet (end of track seven) or pianos (outro) are small but pleasant touches giving the album an expanded identity.

The guitars are well crafted and the adequate production job highlights all the instruments. It's able to be both subtle and complex at the same time (see the instrumentally inclined and beautiful "Frivole"). The post rock from the previous EP is mostly gone but it remains there in spirit inside these tightly knit songs and this short but sweet album.

It's post-black with an uncompromising heavy attitude and no meandering long-winded explorations. The trip is kept brief, to the point and carefully present itself as a midway point between depressive black and post-whatever. It sometimes enters the post-hardcore realms just to borrow some elements, some attitude and come back with a stronger feel. Just like the El-Ahrairah full length (the best black album of 2016), the successful combination of emotions through raw black metal power makes this album an unknown jewel.

Existe on Bandcamp

Free download but a limited run of self-released CDs are gonna be available soon.

Dérélection stellaire MMXVI @Saint-Jean de Matha - live review / compte-rendu

Photo by Manon Cornieux

This live review has been written in collaboration with my friend Ève-Laurence Hébert, I wrote the reviews for the first three bands, we both wrote one for thisquiet army and she wrote the review for the headliners, Basalte.

All the pictures were taken by Ève-Laurence except for those some taken by Manon Cornieux.

Useful links:
Apraxie
Besatzung
Entheos
thisquietarmy
Basalte

A French version follows the English one.


This new event created in part by Basalte, one of my favorite local bands happened in the countryside a bit less than 2 hours from Montréal and it was a blast. It was an intimate gig with about fifty fans and thirteen musicians divided within five musical projects. Beer, mosquitoes, great weather and of course, great music were all present to make this first edition a successful one. It was a relaxing event with only cool, interested and like-minded people and I’ve spent a nice time over there. Thanks to everyone involved and hopefully the festival will happen again next year.

Apraxie were the first to play at around five o’clock just before the communal dinner and considering it was only their second show ever, they were pretty damn cool. Composed of two members of Basalte (drummer and one of the guitarists), Pascal Rivard (vox, guitar) formely of Tribunal and Guillaume Pelletier (solid bassist), the quartet plays a mixture of post hardcore, screamo and post punk with some slight crust and black metal influences. They were pretty sloppy but in great way and it totally fits the juvenile aggressiveness of their sound. The four members were contributing harsh and visceral vocals reminiscent of the emoviolence movement and they were simply fun to watch. I’m excited to hear their debut studio releases scheduled for this year.











Sovannak Ké (Oppression, Putamen Insula...) played a set of Besatzung, his coldwave/ambient/synthpop/not sure how to classify this exactly project and it was pretty cool. Sovannak was alone on stage handling the occasional guitar, the wide array of pedals and effects and of course, the smoke machine. The atmosphere was cold, slow and pretty entrancing. It’s not really a genre I’m truly accustomed with but I liked it and I probably should explore the style. Songs like “Croque mon trottoir” are slow burners with a mesmerising drum machine approach and buried yet evocative vocals. Sad music for sad people.




Entheos released a really good album last year (review here) and while they played a bunch of gigs, it was my first time seeing them. The three members (they record as a quintet but now play live as a trio) were all wearing papier-mâché masks, plays some sort of dissonant yet atmospheric black metal with super tight musicianship. The new songs they played from their upcoming but still untitled new album are going in an even more audacious direction with some influences from Tool, from jazz and an overall sound that is less rooted in black metal. The musicians had a real chemistry and the interactions between the guitar and the bass were natural and impressive. You can definitely hear that those guys are listening to a lot of different styles of music in their sound, it’s rich in textures and the songwriting is intelligent and inspired.






Antoine's review of tqa:

Thisquietarmy was next and while it’s not exactly a genre of music I like, I can certainly say that for the style, it’s great. Eric Quach is alone with his guitar on stage but he’s surrounded by a lot of pedals to create an expansive and gloomy aural experience. Melting together drone, ambient, kraut rock, post rock, noise and at times even some black metal influences, thisquietarmy offered a set full of variety even if it’s an instrumental one man band. The loop effects, the drum machines and the guitar were all handled with talent and dedication but I must say that my favorite part of the performance was the collaborative improvisation at the end with three members of Basalte (guitar, drum and bass) and the guitarist of Entheos. It felt more complete, natural and interesting to me. I’m currently listening to the album Anthems For Catharsis and personally, I think I prefer listening to this while in my pyjamas at home.

Photo by Manon Cornieux 

Ève-Laurence's review of tqa:

Thisquietarmy is an imposing solo musical project formed by Eric Quach. With almost thirty solo albums (without the collobations he did with bands like Hypnodrone Emsemble, USA out of Vietnam or his own project thisquietarmy), Eric traveled the whole world to play immersive musical experiences for his fans. Based in Montréal, I never had the chance to see him despite that I really admire him. It took a special and intimate context for me to officially meet thisquietarmy

Photo by Manon Cornieux 

The artist started his set with “From Darkness Redux” taken from his latest album Anthems for Catharsis. The post rock sound from the number provided by the drum machine and the guitar gave its place to a track border-lining black metal with “Purgation/Purification” also from the same album. The intensity of thisquietarmy took shape with the different guitar effects made possible with the well executed loop and an hypnotizing array of drone sounds causing the audience to dream and enter a trance. The frenetic blast beat and the industrial drum machine on this track could almost make some black metal fans feel uncomfortable, prove the different influences of the project. The third track, “The Black Sea” from the album Rebirths, made us come back to a slower atmosphere without percussions and a melancholic finale. With the end of this track, a surprise happened when three members of Basalte and the guitarist of Entheos came on stage to join Eric Quach and played a fourteen minutes improvised track.

The track is available: here

The first moment of the improvisation was mixing drone and noise gave the time for the musicians to find the way to play together. Slowly but surely, the drums guided the song towards a more metallic direction, we were offered a doom section with slow percussion and a black metal outro with the vocals of E., one of the guitarists of Basalte giving us an appetizer of the last performance of the evening.

Basalte had the opportunity to perform several times since their inception and the release of their first album released in 2014 (review by Antoine here: here) but the last year gave us a bunch of new things like the addition of a bassist and new songs to be recorded for their second album that we’re really waiting for. The intensity of Basalte is undeniable and it’s even more apparent when the band performs as headliners. We think that this evening, an initiative of the band itself was perhaps their best performance yet. The atmosphere created by the impeccable drumming, the two guitars, the bass and the vocals mixing screamo and guttural voices are shaping a type of black metal that is distinguish itself from the classic style of black metal and really manage to captivate its audience. While we can call their genre atmospheric black, post-black metal or experimental black, the band is clearly unorthodox and are a good example of an evolving genre.






Basalte’s first song was the new song “Ce que le corps doit au sol”, a song that the fans only had the chance to see live twice. The first notes really made us realize that the bass was higher in the mix than before and that the musician really worked on his stage presence and managed to compose intersting bass lines. The soft and melodic introduction slowly let the black metal sound take its place like a crescendo. This was followed with “La sclérose coule dans ses veines”, another new song composed by Basalte. This number has a doomier and gloomier and it slowed down the set before “Acouphène”, the fastest song written by the band and its mix of d-beats, blast beats, their mix of harsh and screamed vocals and the breathless tremolos. The different mid paced sections were tied together to end with an exalted finale. To end the gig, Basalte played “Obtuse”, a song from their debut album that they never played since the arrival of their bassist (they used to perform as a trio). For the first time, the track was played with the additional bass guitar and it added a profound atmosphere confirming that this instrument adds a lot to the project. This 17 minutes track ended the performance on a great note. It was difficult not to feel the emotions transmitted by the four members all screaming together till the end of the song.

Photo by Manon Cornieux 

Photo by Manon Cornieux

For the adepts of the dark and experimental local scene, Dérélection stellaire was a memorable and unforgettable event. The location, the camaraderie between the musicians and the fans, the respect for the hosts and of course, the lineup made the event one that we will never forget. We can’t wait for the second edition.

Photo par Manon Cornieux

Critique en Français:

Ce nouvel évènement créé en partie par Basalte, un de nos groupes locaux préférés, a eu lieu en campagne, en forêt a environ deux heures de route de la métropole montréalaise. Le spectacle intime comprenant cinq projets musicaux fut réelement une belle expérience. La bière, les moustiques, la belle température et bien sur, de la bonne musique étaient tous présents pour faire de cette première édition de Dérélection stellaire un succès. Ce fut un moment relaxant avec des gens sympathiques intéressants et intéressés. Merci à l’organisation du festival et on espère qu’une deuxième édition aura lieu.

Apraxie fut le premier groupe a jouer et leur performance planifiée juste avant le souper collectif fut vraiment cool considérant que c’était seulement leur deuxième spectacle à vie. Composé de deux membres de Basalte (batterie et un des guitaristes), le beau Pascal Rivard (voix, guitare) anciennement des weirdos de Tribunal et Guillaume Pelletier (un bassiste très solide), le quatuor joue un mélange de post hardcore, de screamo, de post punk avec des touches subtiles de crust et de black metal. L’instrumentation peu soignée fonctionnait très bien avec leur son juvénile et agressif. Nous avons pu entendre les quatre jeunes hommes contribuer aux vocaux et ceux-ci pouvaient éloquemment rappeler le mouvement emoviolence. Leur premier enregistrement studio est prévu pour cette année et nous avons bien hâte.

Sovannak Ké (Opression, Putamen Insula...) a joué un set de Besatzung, son projet coldwave/ambient/synthpop/pas trop certain comment classifier cela exactement et c’était vraiment bien. Sovannak, seul sur la scène, jouait occasionallement de la guitare mais le focus était surtout sur son amalgame de pédals, machines à effets, drum machine et bien sur, la fameuse machine à fumée. L’atmosphère froide, lente et enchanteresse a su être convaincante. Ce n’est pas un genre que je connais vraiment mais j’ai vraiment aimé ce que j’ai entendu et je devrais explorer le style plus en profondeur. Une chanson comme “Croque mon trottoir” effraie par son identité flegmatique, son son hypnotique et ses vocaux enterrés mais evocateurs. De la musique triste pour des gens triste.

Entheos a sorti un excellent album l’an dernier (critique ici) et malgré qu’ils ont joué plusieurs spectacles, leur performance à la Déréliction stellaire fut ma première fois en leur compagnie. Les trois membres (ils enregistrent en tant que quintet mais joue live en tant que trio) tous masqués de masques faits de papier mâché joue une sorte de black metal atmosphérique et progressif avec une instrumentation du tonnerre. Les nouvelles chansons provenant de leur prochain album sont encore plus audacieuses et nous pouvons entendre les influences de Tool, de jazz et un son qui est définitivement moins basé sur le métal noir. Les musiciens ont une réelle chimie entre eux et les interactions entre la basse et la guitare furent impressionnantes. Nous pouvons vraiment réaliser que ces gars là écoutent un large éventail de styles musicaux différents, leur compositions sont riches en textures et c’est une musique intelligente et inspirée.

Critique d'Antoine:

Thisquietarmy fut le quatrième projet a se produire et malgré que ce n’est pas un style que j’affectionne particulièrement, je dois dire que le projet d’Eric Quach est super. Il est seul sur scène avec sa guitare mais il est entouré par de nombreuses pédales qui l’aident à créer un son sombre et vaste. Combinant drone, ambient, kraut rock, post rock, du noise et même pafois des influences black metal, le projet a offert un set varié et cohésif. Les effets loop, le drum machines et la guitare furent joués avec talent et dévouement mais je dois dire que mon moment préféré du spectacle demeure la fin du set, une chanson improvisée avec trois membres de Basalte (guitare, batterie et basse) et le guitariste d’Entheos. Selon moi ce moment était plus complet, naturel et intéressant. J’écoute présentement l’album Anthems for Catharsis et je crois que je préfère tqa dans le confort de mon foyer que live mais la performance fut fort agréable.

Critique d'Ève-Laurence:

thisquietarmy est un projet musical solo imposant mené par Eric Quach. Avec près d’une trentaine d’albums studio à son actif, sans compter nombre de collaborations (e.g. : Hypnodrone Ensemble et USA Out of Vietnam) et albums live, Eric s’est promené à travers le monde avec sa valise de pédales et sa guitare pour faire vivre à son public international des expériences musicales immersives. Basé à Montréal, je n’avais étonnement jamais eu l’occasion de voir jouer cet artiste que j’admire. C’est dans un contexte unique et intime que j’ai finalement pu faire officiellement la rencontre de thisquietarmy.

L’artiste a débuté sa prestation avec "From Darkness Redux", pièce tirée de son dernier album Anthems for Catharsis. La sonorité post-rock de la pièce, découlant du timbre du drum machine et de la guitare, a laissé place à une tonalité beaucoup plus proche du métal, voire du black métal, avec la deuxième chanson intitulée "Purgation/Purification", également tirée du dernier album. L’intensité de thisquietarmy prend forme dans les différentes strates de guitare rendues possibles grâce à des mises en boucle bien exécutées et un jeu hypnotisant d’effets drone provoquant transes et rêveries chez les spectateur-trices. Le blast beat frénétique et industriel du drum machine sur "Purgation/Purification", pouvant rendre certain-es adeptes du black métal mal à l’aise , témoigne d’une originalité dans les différentes inspirations qui animent thisquietarmy. La troisième pièce, "The Black Sea" de l’album Rebirths, a permis un retour à un style plus lent avec une longue introduction sans percussion et une accentuation vers une finale mélancolique. C’est à ce moment qu’une surprise réservée aux spectateur-trices privilégié-es de l’événement privé a débutée : une longue pièce improvisée de 14 minutes par Eric Quach, le batteur, un guitariste et le bassiste de Basalte, ainsi que le guitariste d’Entheos.

Le début de l’improvisation, croisant le drone et le noise, a laissé le temps aux musiciens de trouver une piste sur laquelle se lancer. Peu à peu, la batterie a pris le rôle de guide et a dirigé l’improvisation vers un genre plus métal, enchaînant une section doom aux percussions lentes et une dernière partie à la tonalité black métal accompagnée de la voix du guitariste de Basalte nous donnant un avant-goût du clou de la soirée : la prestation de Basalte.

La chanson est disponible pour écoute ici : Clique moi!

Basalte a eu l’occasion de performer à maintes reprises depuis ses débuts et son premier album paru en 2014 (critique ici). Toutefois, la dernière année a donné place à de nombreuses nouveautés : l’ajout d’un bassiste et la composition de nouvelles chansons pour un prochain album que l’on attend impatiemment. L’intensité de Basalte est indiscutable, d’autant plus lorsque le groupe joue en tant que tête d’affiche. Selon nous, cette soirée spéciale et fruit de l’initiative du groupe a été l’occasion pour Basalte d’offrir sa meilleure performance. L’atmosphère créée par le jeu de batterie impeccable, les deux guitares, la guitare basse et les vocales croisant le screamo et les voix gutturales façonnent un type de black métal qui s’éloigne des classiques du genre et qui ensorcèle son auditoire. Que l’on qualifie son style musical de black métal atmosphérique, de post-black métal ou de black métal expérimental, le groupe n’est clairement pas orthodoxe et dépasse les limites d’un genre qui évolue constamment.





Basalte a amorcé le spectacle avec "Ce que le corps doit au sol", une chanson que les fans ont eu l’occasion d’entendre seulement deux fois en spectacle et qui fera partie du prochain album. Les premières notes nous ont tout de suite fait sentir les vibrations de la guitare basse qui a été mise de l’avant plus que jamais auparavant et qui nous a permis de porter attention à la composition minutieusement travaillée par son compositeur et interprète dont l’expérience et l’assurance ont incontestablement évoluées. L’introduction douce et mélodique a lentement laissé place à la puissance du black métal dont l’ardeur s’accentuait à chaque minute.

C’est avec "La sclérose coule dans ses veines" que le groupe a poursuivi sa performance, autre nouvelle chanson composée par ses membres. Cette pièce à la sonorité plus doom et cafardeuse a ralenti le ton avant Acouphène, la chanson la plus rapide et agressive composée par le groupe qui nous hameçonne dès ses premières notes. Mêlant d-beat, blast beats, voix gutturales et criées, ainsi que trémolos essoufflants des guitares, les différentes sections plus ou moins rapides de la chanson se sont enchaînées naturellement jusqu’à l’atteinte d’une finale exaltante.

Pour terminer, Basalte a joué "Obtuse", une pièce de leur premier album que le groupe avait mise de côté depuis l’arrivée du nouveau bassiste. Pour la première fois, la chanson a été jouée avec une guitare basse créant une atmosphère tellement plus profonde que sur album et nous permettant de confirmer encore plus l’atout que représente pour ce projet musical la présence de la basse. Cette longue pièce de 17 minutes a terminé la prestation de Basalte sur une note estomaquante. Difficile de ne pas ressentir les émotions transmises par les quatre membres de Basalte criant à l’unisson à huit reprises la dernière ligne des paroles de la chanson.





Pour les adeptes de la scène musicale sombre et expérimentale, Déréliction stellaire fut un événement marquant, inoubliable. Le lieu, la bonne entente chez les spectateur-trices, le respect remarquable pour nos hôtes et, évidemment, la programmation ont fait de Déréliction un moment que tous et chacun souhaiteraient revivre. Vivement une deuxième édition!

Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 9

Brought to you by the Hound

Unru - Als Tier Ist Der Mensch Nichts (2016) / 80%

Oppressive incestuous post black

This German quartet's debut album (that we can translate to "As an animal, man is nothing") is a brief voyage into the oppressive minds of their songwriters. Rooted in both black metal and hardcore (crust, post hardcore...), the four songs managed to incorporate the pure hatred and violent conviction of all their influences. The drums are buried under the loud and atmospheric guitars but I liked the way they were recorded, it seems to be natural and fits the aggressive yet pensive identity of Unru.

I guess we could say that they're a post black metal band but there's nothing fancy, comforting or joyful about their music. The vocals are deep howls and combined with the instrumentation, it's like walking in an old post World War II disaffected military complex, it's cold and suffocating in the best way possible. If you like the numerous incestuous explorations of black metal and hardcore, this is a band to check out. The lengthy songs made this an exhausting but rewarding experience.

Dautha - Den förste (2016) / 83%

Sweden's new trad doom titanI do think that Griftegård only managing to release one full-length is a tragedy in itself but if we ignore this first world problem, I’m quite happy that Ola Blomkvist (guitars, lyrics, direction) is back with a new traditional doom project and it’s well worth the time for everyone who likes the style. While not reinventing the classic wheel of doom, the integration of some beautiful violins is refreshing in something else than melodic doom/death or goth metal à la My Dying Bride. After a brief intro (translated to “Adulterers should be killed”), we’re served two excellent mid-paced numbers with epic soaring clean vocals and terrific riffs. Definitely influenced by the medieval period and religions, Dautha’s music is classy, engaging and played by talented Swedish veterans. Let us rejoice when darkness thrive / Oh, this is Hell but we shall laugh This is a demo but the quality of the songs and the production made me wish it wasn’t. Unfortunately the handmade packaging limited to 78 copies is sold out but I’m sure we won’t have to wait too long before we get more material from these guys. Well, I hope so.

Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (2016) / 97%
Nine Inch Cocks

Signing to Nuclear Blast definitely made Nails sellouts, right? Oh fuck no it didn’t. The Californian trio unleashed their longest album ever (still only 21 minutes) and it’s one of the perfect outlet for aggression and violence I’ve ever heard. The band got added to the Metal Archives due to this record and rightfully so, I could compare it to the movie Alien, a cinema classic classified as both horror and science fiction… Well, YWNBOOU borrows as much from hardcore as it does from metal. Nails puts classic grindcore, old Swedish death metal, powerviolence, crust, Slayer-ish thrash in a dirty blender and crush the mixture till it’s just perfectly bloody.

Just like “Unsilent Death” or Abandon All Life, most of the tracks are short motherfuckers who will slam your head and make you jump everywhere. They never forget to write compelling and truly awesome riffs such as in “Into Quietus” and end the album with a monstrous eight minutes track containing everything they ever been known for. Slow pummeling riffs, spiteful vocals and fast destruction. I was really happy when they played “They Come Crawling Back” live as it’s one hell of a track. The best extreme album of 2016.

"VIOLENCE IS FOREVER"

Pillars – Pyres and Gallows (2016) / 70%

The Baguette Doom Series pt. XVII: Nice

The quartet from Nice (not pronounced like you think) plays heavy as hell doom metal without turning into a stoner band. The vocals of Clément Flandrois are rough, sort of harsh and would fit a southern metal band. The dude has a lot of range though and shows how good he is on the 10 minutes title track.

Many French bands actually sound like they’re from the American south and I’m not totally sure why (check out Glorior Belli and their southern black metal sound) and Pillars are definitely one of them. I mean, it’s subtle, don’t expect to hear some classless Hellyeah worship here, it’s still trad doom with obese riffs and a sad lyrical approach. This debut extended play has no obvious problems, it’s honest, well written and even has this blackened feel not usually present in this style of metal. Nevertheless, they could streamline their compositions a little and there’s a certain lack of memorability on there.

Deathbringer - From Silence Was Born The Sound of Death (2016) / 75%
Unsilent death/black

Montréal’s Deathbringer plays a savage and natural sort of death/black metal. Their debut full length, a short affair sounds like a demented Immolation at times. There’s an obvious focus on riffs and the album is full of great catchy ones. The production job was kept willingly raw and when I first heard a track from the album, I wasn’t quite sure it was the right decision but now that I’ve heard the full thing, I do think it fits the atmosphere they were going for.

Vocal wise, there’s a mix of cavernous growls, high pitched screams (both apparent on the last track “Bone Weaver”) and also some cleans (“By the Will of God”). The singer is one of the best aspects of Deathbringer, it adds to the dual identity of the band and their fluid back and forth between death and black metal. Even if they’re Canadian, they’re not really war metal, their core is death metal and there’s even doomy influences at times. War metal for me must be black metal with additional elements coming from death and grind.

All in all, it’s a strong debut for Deathbringer, they understood that riffs are the primordial element to make your band worthwhile and even though they kept the mastering and mixing lo-fi and raw, it makes the songs shine in the darkness.

Yautja – Songs of Descent (2014) / 96%

As powerful as Shea Weber's slapshot

This trio from Nashville is fucking insane. I've seen them live recently in Montréal when they toured with Magrudergrind and while I was familiar with this album beforehand, I really was flabbergasted with their stage presence. I've been spinning their debut full length since then and it's a marvelous tour de force full of turns and crossovers.

Their genre on the Archives doesn't come close to how vast their sound is but it's also difficult to pinpoint it effectively. Simply by looking at the three dudes, you could think that there's no cohesion to be found here but you'd be wrong. Their bassist was wearing an Aura Noir shirt and looked metal as fuck, their guitarist looked like he could play in Car Seat Headrest and their drummer would fit right at home at a Grateful Dead community worshiping acid. For some reason, the three dudes combined together simply works like a charm.

Sure, there's grind here but there's a lot of other stuff like mathcore, death metal, experimental and a big dose of sludge. It's almost like a southern appropriation of the US East Coast's hipsterism. In some ways, they're Tennessee's chaotic answer to Krallice or to early Mastodon, they have those odd rhythms while keeping the heaviness as an integral part of their identity. While there's an interesting variety of tempos, all of supreme quality, you never get lost with Yautja. They're taking you places that you wasn't quite sure were real. From the grind might of "Blinders" to the weird epic sludge of "Faith Resigned"(a song that sounds like Crowbar who suddenly became a forward thinking band), it's as a varied as you'll get for a grindcore band. They do feel like slowing things down quite often and it adds to the immense weight of the album, a song like "(Path to the Ground)" just messes around with a slow grind riff for ninety seconds but it doesn't affect the pace of Songs of Descent at all. The bass is thick and loud and the guitars are super interesting with the way it alternates between a super fast and crushing sound. Tyler Coburn has to be one of the best drummers I've ever seen live, the moustachioed gentleman is a beast on the kit. He's good at everything and also alternates between the blastbeats and a more traditional style. Supremely good musicianship.

Yautja is the name of the alien species in the Predator series and Nashville's NHL team is named... the Predators, not a coincidence! Like the invisible master hunter, the trio kills you with a combination of intelligence and pure aggression.

Yautja on Bandcamp

Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 5

Karnon – Le temps sombre (2016) / 68%

Nah, it doesn’t sound like Agalloch

The Montréal quartet’s first release is a combination of modern melodic black metal, death metal, some progressive sludge/post-metal influences and metalcore. The most interesting thing about them is definitely the pagan theme explored throughout the French lyrics, it’s like a modern version of Belenos or just dudes like me who grew while reading Astérix comic books. I’d say this mythological angle is a welcome change from similar bands who generally have generic lyrics about life or something.

Musically, it’s not really my cup of tea. While I dig some of their influences (or used to, at least), the blend of sounds seems a bit artificial to me. At times, it’s like injecting the cold, mechanical sound of The Ocean to modern Immortal and while it’s mostly enjoyable and has well crafted riffs and guitar leads, it’s not something I’ll go back to. Also, I think that their shortest track “Vierge noire” with its Amon Amarth feel was more pertinent than the other, possibly more epic tracks.

The drumming is solid, the production and compositions are truly professional but Karnon is a band that’s developing its identity and should continue to do so. Nevertheless, if you dig melodic death/black with a pagan (non folk!) vibe, this is for you.

Bandcamp (pay what you can download)

Black Lung – See the Enemy (2016) / 76%

No bass, no problem

This trio from Maryland plays a vivid sort of psych doom/stoner with very groovy guitar riffs and buried, clean vocals. There’s some stoner bands who don’t have guitars and only rely on bass hooks (see Zaum) but Black Lung decided to go with two electric guitars instead. The rhythms are still infections since the instruments are downtuned as hell. “Crooked Fingers” basically sounds early Danzig turned psych stoner and it’s lovely. I haven’t heard their debut album but apparently it was softer and not metal like this one, nevertheless they still have some rock influences such as some balladesque parts of “Priestess”.

Their guitar tone is solid, they have sweet ass leads and the mix and mastering are well done but they lack a certain originality to distinguish themselves in this saturated doom/stoner world. If you like the genre and you’re always looking for another band to enjoy, check ‘em out, it’s fun stuff.

Bandcamp

Gargoyle – Reborn in Blasphemy (2016) / 74%

Lo-fi horror

"Have you heard the new Gargoyle?" asked my Swedish friend.

“The Japanese band?” I replied.

“Nah, this new Italian doom band”
“Ohhh ok”

And this is how I’ve discovered this quartet from Calabria, great story, right? Well, I can assure you that their music is a bit more interesting... Following in the footsteps of the horror doom masters Abysmal Grief, their music is occult dirges showing how dark and obscure the traditional doom genre can actually get.

The three songs are lo-fi doom with hints of blackened metal and distortion. The production is on more on the amateurish side than any doom I’ve heard this year but it fits the dark aura the songs go for quite well, I’d still would be curious to hear them with a solid production, one which could highlight their forces even more. Just find a larger cavern to record, guys. The vocals are somewhat harsh and were probably recorded in an underground cave or the small bathroom of one of their moms, there’s a lot of reverb and it fits the current occult black/death/doom movement. They don’t mess around with their compositions either, they’re kept relatively short and to the point, something that many of their peers don’t or just can’t do. Solid first release.

Bandcamp

Wretched Wizard – Empty Throne (2016) / 75%

Primitive Men

This young Ohioan duo just released their first album, a 19 minutes forray into aggresssive style shattering metal. On these eight songs, they go from hard hitting sludge to stoner/doom and metallic hardcore and they often do that on the same song. There’s a primitive, almost southern-ey influence as well as it’s not just heavy, it’s also atmospheric and some ideas could benefit from extraneous moments. I thought the short one minute interlude was cool but, yeah, it was only one minute.

I liked the loud production on the drums and guitars but the vocals are grating, not that they’re bad, the harsh growls are full of venom and spite as you could expect from a band like them but they’re much too predominant in the mix and frankly a bit hard to handle.

Bandcamp